


kill 'em with kindness

by shell-heads (chocopies)



Series: Cap/IM Bingo 2018 II [8]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Cousin!Peggy, Featuring Steve's Big Fat Crush on Tony and how he's Bad at it, Fluff, M/M, bucky barnes is the best 5 yo wingman god bless him, nat and clint feature too actually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-06 08:49:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17342303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocopies/pseuds/shell-heads
Summary: So maybe Tony is really cute, and maybe Steve has a crush on him, and MAYBE he doesn't know how to stop panicking every time Tony looks at him and does stupid things like ignore him or yell at him, but the positive is that at least Tony will never know.The rocks? Steve always panics-yells at Tony, or ignores him-because he can't handle having a crush when Tony has such big brown eyes and soft round cheeks, soTony will never know.Being five ishard.





	kill 'em with kindness

“Steve Rogers _hates_ me,” Tony wails, fat tears bubbling up in his eyes and dripping down his face, pudgy hands rubbing at his cheeks sorely.

“Aw, Tony, of course he doesn’t,” Peggy tries, setting a hand on his shoulder and lowering herself to meet him face-to-face.

“But he p-pushed me!” Tony cries, hiccuping and gulping air desperately. “And he n-never wants to p-play with me, and he always g-gives me the mean e-eye, and C-Clint said he never saw _a-anyone_ who hates somebody so m-much.”

Two feet away, Natasha punches Clint in the arm with a nasty look, his yelp echoing through the playground.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Peggy clucks, gently swiping away his tears. “That’s not true at all. Right, Steve?”

Steve, who’s standing at the far end of the playground and scowling at his feet, only scowls harder.

“Come on, Stevie,” Bucky whispers, nudging him with his elbow, all furrowed brows and sad concern as his eyes flick between Tony's tears and Steve's sour face. “You know you didn't mean it.”

Stiffening, Steve clenches his fists and chances a glance at Tony, his face falling for a moment before it screws up again and he storms off, Tony’s watery eyes shedding more tears immediately.

 _“S-see_?” Tony sobs, heartbroken, “He h-hates me!” 

“Aw, Tony, he doesn’t,” Bucky promises, coming close after sighing in defeat at Steve’s refusal to speak up.

“You’re just s-sayin’ that be-because you don’t w-want me to cry,” Tony hiccups, his poor little face dripping with tears as Peggy rubs his back soothingly.

"Trust me, Tony, he’s a big ol’ doofus,” Bucky says, using his shirt to wipe away Tony’s tears as gently as he can. “He just doesn’t know how to be friends with you is all.”

“B-but I keep tr-trying to be friends with him,” Tony says, his cries slowing down as Bucky smiles at him.

“I know, buddy, you been trying _real_ hard,” Bucky confesses, ruffling Tony’s hair and frowning at Steve from his sad corner of the playground. “Stevie’s just a lil’ special, you know? I know he’s been pretty mean to you, Tony.”

“Y-yeah,” Tony whispers, chest hitching. “But I don’t wanna be m-mean _back_.”

“He’d deserve it,” Bucky points out, lips tugging upwards as Tony shakes his head.

“Jarvis always says th-the best revenge is being nice,” Tony tells him, Peggy smiling fondly from behind him and squeezing his shoulder softly in pride. “So I should be n-nice to Steve, even if he’s mean a lot of times.”

“I think that’s real awesome of you, Tony,” Bucky hums, rubbing away one last tear that falls from Tony’s eyes. Face slowly lighting up, Bucky shares a look with Peggy and grins. “I think I even know what’ll make Steve better.”

“Really? And it’s not m-mean?” Tony asks him, heart ballooning with hope as Bucky nods. “What is it?”

“Come here,” Bucky gestures, leaning in close to whisper into his ear with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Are you sure?” Tony asks nervously, all wide brown eyes and round cheeks.

“Sure as heck,” Bucky confirms, mouthing a triumphant shout as Tony nods and slowly makes his way over to Steve, Peggy standing up and moving beside him curiously.

“What did you say to him?” Peggy asks, looking down at Bucky as Natasha and Clint join them in watching. 

“I told him if he wanted to do something nice for Steve like Mr. Jarvis says, he should give ‘im a kiss,” Bucky answers nonchalantly, snickering at the shock that overtakes Peggy and Clint.

“Aw no,” Clint whispers in horror, “Tony’s gonna _die_.”

“He’s not gonna die,” Natasha rolls her eyes, swatting him again. “Steve’d never hurt him on _purpose_.”

“Then how come he’s always mean to Tony?” Clint asks sorely, rubbing his arm and sticking his tongue out at her.

“He’s not tryin’ to be mean,” Bucky explains, shaking his head wearily. “He’s just a big bag of silly bricks with a crush.”

“I beg your pardon?” Peggy asks, staring at Bucky like he’s just told her the Queen died. “Steve Rogers has a _crush_ on Tony?”

“Numbskull,” Bucky agrees, “he’s got it so bad he can’t even talk to Tony, you know-he just gets all them heart palpations when Tony comes around, and then he freaks out and does somethin’ like shove him ‘cuz he doesn’t know how to not be embarrassing.”

“I can’t tell if I should be proud or protective,” Peggy says faintly, staring at the two of them as Tony finally reaches Steve.

“You could always be both,” Natasha offers, smacking Clint again when he tries to pull on her hair.

Twenty feet away, Tony creeps up behind Steve’s narrow shoulders and shuffles his feet timidly, his hands shaking as he stands next to him.

“H-hey, Steve,” Tony starts, heart jumping as Steve turns still as stone beside him. “I’m sorry I said you hate me-Bucky told me you don’t. And, and I’m sorry if I’m too much when I t-talk to you...I don’t mean to make you feel weird, I promise.”

Throat closing up as he holds back tears of frustration from being unable to bring forth his own apologies, Steve sniffs wetly and tries not to cry.

“I just wanted you to know that, um, I think you’re really c-cool, and I wanna be friends if-if you wanna be friends too,” Tony finishes, rocking back and forth on his feels before taking a deep breath for courage.

" _Thanks for listening,”_ he blurts quickly, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Steve’s cheek that causes the blond falls out of his crouch in shock before running away with a pink face. “Bye!” 

Blood rushing to his face at the speed of light, Steve gapes wordlessly as his cheek burns with the memory of a small mouth pressed against it, his heart falling into shambles within his chest from a kaleidoscope of emotions.

“Hnfhgr?” Steve tries, his mind short-circuiting too fast for him to comprehend anything but the giant exclamation marks jumping around in his head; a trembling hand touches the skin where Tony was only a moment ago, and his mind _explodes_.

“Do you think he liked it?” Tony asks Bucky worriedly as he runs back, his pink face still stained with worry.

  
“Oh, darling,” Peggy laughs, unable to help herself as Steve falls apart on the other side of the playground from sheer joy and disbelief, “I’m quite sure he _loved_ it.”

**Author's Note:**

> this is a cute little thing written for the revenge prompt on my stony bingo!! i just LOVE kidfics, and this idea was so sweet to think of!!!! as always, feel free to leave me a comment or come talk to me on tumblr @shell-heads


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